Hey what's up? It's Tom from Pack Hacker. In this video we're gonna be taking a
look at the Sketchcase for your laptop. It's not really actually a case but more
of a whiteboard sticker for your laptop, so you can have a whiteboard wherever
you go. Let's check it out.
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At Pack Hacker we want to help you pack less so you can travel more. So if you're
new here consider subscribing for more gear reviews just like this one.
If you're not a big whiteboard fan you can feel free to skip this video for the
next one, because we're gonna go in a little bit deep.
So me personally, I help a lot of companies with digital product design and front-end engineering. And in
my day-to-day life before I was fully nomadic, I used a white board nearly
every day to explain high-level concepts, quickly iterate on ideas and generally
get things down on a layout perspective before going into something like
Photoshop or Sketch or another program like that. So having a white board for me
is very important when working on a larger project, especially in the
brainstorming phase. There's nothing like being able to set up a whiteboard and
maybe some paper around you when you're working on a new idea or a new design.
You're kind of able to make those connections a little bit easier if you
can see everything wholistically. So on my travels when I haven't had access to a
whiteboard I've either rented out a Breather, or used a room in a co-working
space. I've also brought a stack of, like, printer paper around with me and a
pencil which is a little bit more wasteful. I've even gone as far as to use
chalk markers on a window to try to get everything in my head out visually. I'm
hoping that the Sketchcase enables me to whiteboard more in a fluid way while
I'm on the road. And one thing to note: the brand name is a little bit confusing.
So it's called a Sketchcase. It's actually just kind of like a giant
sticker which we'll get into in a second. But they do have their first Kickstarter
launching on October 17th, and from there I could totally see them going into like
a V2 product where they actually have hard case with this whiteboard coating
on it. But we'll see where they head.
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Starting off with the installation - you want to use this cleaning wipe and get
it really clean before you apply anything. The installation was actually
easier than I expected. They have this special 3M patented technology (blah blah
blah) that makes it a little bit easier to line it up. Because if you don't put
any pressure on it, it sort of hovers over the stickable surface and you're
able to move it around a little bit easier. And then, once you have it in
the position that you want, that's when you start applying the pressure. So you
if you want to use something like a credit card wrapped in a towel or a paper towel
(we ended up just using a paper towel) and then you start from the center and push
out to the corners. That's going to help you avoid any types of air bubbles. After
smoothing everything out I noticed that ours wasn't exactly centered, so we were
missing a little bit of space on one side. This drove me a little bit nuts
because I like things to be exact and centered. But moving forward and testing
it for the last two weeks, it hasn't really created much of an
issue other than just myself knowing it's not centered. So here it is if you
want to take a look! It's nice, it's thin, it doesn't add any bulk at all. You can
still see the Apple shining through. And their logo is kind of funny - it looks
like a marker smudge that just will not come off.
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So Sketch does come with an included marker. This is a compact size which is
nice, and there's an eraser here on the top, which is good. I have seen markers
like this before and honestly I think the quality isn't super-high. Um I've seen
something similar and they kind of break. So we also grabbed some Expo markers and
these are higher quality. You can ask any teacher around, most of them are gonna
prefer Expo. So these are the dry erase fine tips. They're a little bit skinnier
than you know, a traditional whiteboard marker which is nice for travel. And on
that same note we also found these markers from U Brands, which I'd never
heard of this brand before. But if you compare the size of these things
together, between one another, the U Brands one is going to be the smallest. I
did find it a little bit annoying to use because it was a little bit small right?
But once you put the cap on the back it kind of creates a nice place to grip, and
it's easily stowable in your carry-on or luggage. We all know that that space is
precious taking this with you, and obviously with the whiteboard sticker
that's not taking up any additional space, or you know, hardly any weight -
maybe an ounce, not even. For erasing I'm gonna assume that you don't want to take
around a giant whiteboard eraser with you. I certainly wouldn't want to either
and I don't. I just use my microfiber towel. It's a packed towel, it's pretty
nice. It's a good additional usage for that. You could also use some paper
towels, but I personally tend to avoid that because it's a little bit wasteful
if you're always going through and using a bunch of paper towels.
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As far as durability and usage goes, we've been testing this thing for about
two weeks. And that's not quite long enough to see if this thing is going to
hold up to the elements of travel. But I wanted to get this video out there for
you so you could take a look if you wanted to, and if you're a white board
person. So far, pulling it in and out of a backpack has not proven to create any
type of issue, but I'm curious to see how long the sticky part actually stays on
and stays clean you know. Your backpack gets a little bit dirty; I wonder if some
of that dirt can start to get under that paper. Time will tell. And we'll keep the
entire durability usage timeline up to date on Pack Hacker.com, so feel free to go
check that out at anytime. We have also tested this by leaving dry erase marker
on the whiteboard for 48 hours. And we're happy to report that it easily wiped off
after even that long of a time. Sketchcase also says that a wet erase marker
will work on this. And even a permanent marker is removable with the type of
technology that they've got going on in this whiteboard sticker. The Sketchcase
is priced at $25 at the moment. And if you hop over to their Kickstarter, you're
gonna be able to back it for 15 bucks. And when they do start shipping this
stuff out, that'll be ready to go for you. For the pros - this whiteboard has some
great functionality and works really well without adding additional bulk and
weight to your pack. It's easier than expected to apply. Like I said, I thought
there would be a little bit of a challenge trying to get the sticker on
there, but it does slide around and allows you to line it up before applying
any pressure. For the cons - there's no added protection for your laptop. This is
basically just a sticker; it doesn't come in a case. And lastly, the marker that it
comes with isn't ideal. There are certainly better markers out there that
you should probably grab if you want to be using this thing. Thanks for taking a
look at this sticker that turns your laptop into a whiteboard. Make sure to
subscribe to Pack Hacker and never miss an update. We'll see you in the next video.
Done!
So thanks for taking a look at the sketch case, whiteboard sticker case
thing. I don't really know what to call it.
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